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Spy and the Heavies
Spy and the Heavies were a rock / R&B band first formed in 1950 under the moniker "The Terrific Threesome," then regropued in 1956 as "The Enforcers," and then in 1965 as Spy and the Heavies by a BLU spy named Francis, two BLU medics named Ludwig and Albert, and three RED heavies named Larry, Jason, and Thomas. They retired from making new music as a band in 2015, after Francis died. The living individuals still make music, however, and remain very close friends. History Members The oldest band member, Francis (the leader) was born in 1928. The three main heavies were then born in this order - Thomas in 1929, Larry in 1931, and Jason in 1935. These four are the main members from whom the band was named. The two medics, Albert and Ludwig, were born in 1939 and 1940, respectively, making Ludwig the youngest member. Francis was of French-British descent, and all three heavies were of Russian descent, with Thomas having a slight Irish descent and Jason with Scottish in him. Albert and Ludwig are both German. Substory 1 - Francis The story begins in 1938, when Francis received a guitar for his 10th birthday. He learned a few chords from his father, who was an accomplished local performer with his brother in the band named the Martin Brothers. Francis later gets a part-time job at a local grocery store in 1944, and saved up to buy a brand new guitar - a shiny, futuristic electric guitar, which was a concept only slightly over a decade old at the time. Once 17, he lied about his age so he could enlist in WWII as a spy, but the war ended only a few short months after he enlisted. However, in his short time of service, he met Thomas and Larry, two extremely young heavy weapons men who also lied about their ages. Substory 2 - Thomas Thomas was born in the US in early 1929 and was the son to two Russian immigrants. They were interested in getting their son to become a soldier like the family tradition, but once Thomas reached the age of 15 he bought himself a drum set and fell in love with it. His parents, however, were furious, and destroyed it right in front of Thomas. He then joined the army under one condition - his parents had to buy him a new set. They reluctantly agreed, and helped Thomas sneak into the army. There, he fought alongside Larry, and later met Francis with him and they all became good friends. Substory 3 - Larry From the beginning, Thomas and Larry's families were great friends. Larry was born in the June of 1931, and unlike Thomas' parents, allowed Larry to do whatever he wanted to do in his life. Larry first wanted to be a police officer, but changed his mind when he was introduced into bass guitar by his uncle Jeremiah. He was given a weekly allowance, and when he was able to afford it, he bought a bass in 1940. He later lied about his age in 1945, pretending to be 18 but actually being 14. He took his bass with him, and showed off his skills to Francis when they were back at base. He was impressed, and then asked if Larry wanted to join him in making music. He agreed, and then Thomas mentioned he was a drum player. Francis allowed him to join as well, creating a proto-band in the process. Main Story The three later returned home in 1949, after spending years of earning enough money to buy tickets. On the way back, they thought of a name and what genre they would prefer. All three participated in a friendly debate, each suggesting different things. Eventually, they all agreed upon their band name being "The Terrific Threesome." However, they were unsure where they wanted to go musically. Once they arrived at exactly 2:36 AM on December 30, 1949, they all agreed to meet up at Francis' house at 9 AM, January 1, 1950. New Year's Eve 1949 was spent by all three doing the same thing - having fun with their instruments. Thomas' parents bought him a new drum set and happily allowed their son to pursue his dreams as a drummer. Francis and Larry both had fun messing around and practicing to keep their skill high. Once it was the first morning of 1950, Larry and Thomas made their way to Francis' house, arriving slightly before 9 AM. They began to discuss what kind of songs they wanted to make. Francis and Thomas both suggested they become a country band, and Larry agreed. However, they all wanted to make their songs 100% instrumental. This set up the path they took in later years. The rest of the day was them covering well-known country songs, such as "Soldier's Last Letter." They didn't record a single song until 1954, when Francis was able to afford a cheap wire recorder. With this, they made their first recording, which is lost today. 1956 was the year that the group met Jason, the third member who was Larry's cousin. He showed his guitar skills to Francis, who allowed him to join their band, meaning their name would have to be changed. Substory 4 - Jason Jason was born in 1935 to the sister of Larry's father. The two cousins grew up as great friends, wanting to do whatever the other did. When Larry got a bass guitar at 9 years old, he thought it would be cool to have something like that. However, he was only 5 years old, so he had to wait a few years. Once he was 16, he bought himself a guitar, and enlisted in the army in 1952 to follow his cousin's path. He fought in the Korean War as a heavy weapons person, and returned to the US in 1956. The same day he returned to Larry was the day he was introduced to the band, and Francis allowed Jason to join. Main Story (cont.) With four members (Francis on lead guitar, Jason on rhythm guitar, Larry on bass guitar, and Thomas on drums) the band could no longer be called the Terrific Threesome. Along with the name change, Francis was getting sick of country and wanted to try something new. The band's name was decided as "the Enforcers," named after the nickname of Francis' revolver from his war days. They all decided to pursue a rock and roll style of music similar to Elvis Presley's recent song "Heartbreak Hotel," the only difference being the absence of singing. In 1957, they recorded and released their first public record, "Magnum Force," with the assistance of Francis' friend Alex on trumpet. The song was a hit. By 1960, the band had released only singles, 21 of them to be exact. They chose to go big this year - and record an entire album. Their first album, "Dance by Daylight," was a huge hit and sold platinum in the US. All throughout the early and middle 1960s, the band was recording albums and singles. they released five more between 1961-1965, in order - "Extreme Power," "Hello, World," (their first album to receive worldwide distribution) "Let's Party," "Love and War," and "End of the Line." All five were massive sales hits and critics gave rave reviews. In 1965, the band wanted to take a risk - including a more R&B sounding style in some of their songs, and bringing their roots back - country. They chose two new members who were close friends to Francis, Albert and Ludwig, two medics who served in the ongoing Vietnam War for five years (1958-1963). They played backup instruments such as violin, fiddle, piano, organ, and any others because they were extremely talented in many instruments. This was when they wanted a name change, so in the court of law they had the group's name legally changed to "Spy and the Heavies," which all six members has agreed to. The name was based of the four main members' wartime positions, and this name stuck. They released a lot of music from 1965-1980, and critics were quick to praise their new sound, saying "If the Enforcers were a bowl of ice cream, then Spy and the Heavies are a double-decked banana split." 1966 was the year one of the largest things the band had ever done occurred - they performed live in a stadium, Lions Park to be exact, on September 28. It was a mere 24 minutes long, but was a landmark event in the band's history as it was the largest venue they ever played in and it was their largest audience then, with several thousand people in attendance. 1976 was the biggest year for the band yet, because it was the year they released the album "Terror in Teufort," which had a combination of hard rock, rock and roll, R&B, bluegrass, fluffy and dreamlike music (slightly ahead of their time), and above all, an element of mystery. The album was cited as the group's finest work, selling triple platinum worldwide. It was released on Francis' 49th birthday. Teufort is the formal name of 2fort, which is an old war zone that their recording studio is located at. Unbeknownst to the band, Bichface was hiding herself in the studio when they were recording the extended version of "Texas Style," the take they ended up using for the single release. When Ludwig began his violin solo, Bichface started to play hers, but during mixing, no one noticed. However, when Bichface left the studio, she was spotted by Andrew Thomas, a soldier who had been hunting her down since the 1950s. She fled, and Andrew ran off continuing his search. The album version of Texas Style was later released as a single with the b-side "Keep on Truckin'" in 1977. The extended version, which was mentioned above, was released out of popular demand in 1979. It is a longer, slower, and more complex version of the song, and quickly became the more well-known version. At first, the band played the original version live, but started to play the extended version during their touring years from 1985-2015. Another song off of the album, "Radio Room," was the instrumental of Rod Stewart's song "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" which was released in 1978. A widely unknown fact is that after it was made by Rod Stewart in 1975 originally, he allowed the band to use a few elements from it, and add a few things on top, and he would use it in the near future. The agreement went very smoothly, with the band and Rod becoming great friends. In 1978, the album "Longest Days" was released, and in 1979 it reached the number 2 spot on Billboard, where it stayed for two weeks. The album sold fairly well in the UK, US, and Canada, but was not as successful in other countries. 1980 was the release year of "Spy and the Heavies - Greatest Hits," an album compiled by the record label (Valve Records) that every band member consented to the release of. The 1970s-1990s were considered the golden age of the band, however the 1980s were truly their peak. Their best selling album of all time, "Love in the City," (released in 1985) sold quintuple-platinum worldwide. The band earned so much money that they could practically make any song they wanted, however they remained humble even as multimillionaires. The rest of the 1980s were full of releases, all successes in their own rights. The 1990s was when the band started to experiment with a more raplike sound in occasional songs, but still stuck to their Rock / R&B / Country roots. The songs in this style were not quite as popular as their others, so they quit doing this by 1996. On December 1, 1999, depressed to see the 20th century go soon, 71-year old Francis suggested the band make an album entitled "The Last Dance," to which the all agreed. Recording began immediately, and it was finished and released on December 31, 1999. The album was a hit, and included the very popular "Millennium Swing," a dance song. YTMND (You the Man Now, Dog), a meme page, became flooded with entries related to this song in 2002. They have all since been banned because the song was no longer popular by the time 2003 arrived. The band performed live throughout the 2000s, not producing any new albums. However, even at their old ages, the band members never quit. Francis reached 80 years old in 2008, and was celebrated by his other band members - Thomas at 79 years old, Larry at 77, Jason at 73, Albert at 69, and Ludwig at 68. They didn't make a new album until 2010, since longtime fans of the band wanted one. Unfortunately, Francis' smoking got the best of him and he passed away in August 2015, at 87 years old. To celebrate his life, his band members held a concert in which they performed their most famous songs alongside Alex, Francis' friend, on lead guitar who was 76 years old at the time. The performance was very well-received, with Alex's tribute to his friend being especially celebrated. 2015 was the year the contractual partnership was broken, and all the members started their own solo careers. However, unlike most other bands that did this after their breakup (the Beatles being the most famous about 47 years ago from the writing of this page), they remained very close friends and occasionally performed as Spy and the Heavies Revival live, performing their best songs. As of 2017, the members are still quite popular as soloists in their 70s and 80s. Category:Approved by the flying spaghetti dick Category:Adam sandler is gay Category:Team fortress 2